Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is usually the right one. I see 3 entities whose current PRIMARY interests simply don't coincide at this moment in time. Nothing untoward or ill-meaning is going on.
Pat, Lance and Debbie: Primary interest - Want to continue to invest in WB to make it better, so they need a long term lease to protect the investment; certainly can't agree to be out on 60 day's notice. Conclusion: Must have 5 year lease. Madison Marquette: Primary Interest - to buy the whole block to build condos; but not right now because real estate isn't selling and financing is strict. Have to wait. Not going to buy the block now and cover carrying costs/potential liabilities just to save WB. If they gave WB a 5 year lease, they wouldn't be able to develop it 1 year from now, 2 years, etc. Conclusion: 5 year lease contrary to their primary interests. Asbury Partners: Primary Interests - (Mirror opposite of MM) They want to sell the whole block to condo developer. Now suffering carrying costs and potential liabilities. Won't give WB a 5 year lease, because the length of the lease will hold up a sale to a sub- developer for exactly that long. Conclusion: 5 year lease contrary to their primary interests. I know it feels better to ascribe all sorts of Machiavellian reasons including class warfare, social planning, etc. all to create a villain, but things don't run philosophically in real estate. Developers aren't part of a secret society to create a new world order. It's one parcel at a time and how much can they make on that parcel. Simple. To make a deal, quite simply, all sides need the their financial incentives to coincide. They don't right now. LAST HOPE: The secondary incentives: Asbury Partners will suffer increased carrying costs when the WB closes. To them and MM the block will look terrible, affecting the rest of the beachfront. Perhaps a last minute deal is struck as a bow to secondary incentives, but make no mistake - they won't greatly compromise the primary incentive to keep WB open. Larry can find someone to open a bar there when WB leaves to cover carry costs if he has to, so the secondary incentives are not that strong. It's business. Unfortunately, we don't get what we want. It's not the first time for any of us. There are parts of the redevelopment we would all do differently. I guess that's part of being a diverse community it never looks like one person's perfect place. If many of you were in charge things would look differently. If I were in charge the Casino complex would have been knocked down and replaced with a much larger, world class facility. Maybe WB gets a temp space elsewhere and moves back to the beach in a few years, when all involved have similar current interests. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/